#52FilmsByWomen: THE PIG CHILD

27/52 THE PIG CHILD

I’ve never been able to stomach graphic or violent horror movies but, once in a while, a film comes comes along that is pure horror and I have a great appreciation for that. Pure horror taps into the dark and scary places of our human psyche–exploring them through story and metaphor so that we can safely look into the face of our fears and desires.

Directed by Lucy Campbell, THE PIG CHILD follows a female scientist who, driven by her experiments with human/animal DNA, decides to surrogate an illegal pig-human embryo using her own body. This short film follows the consequences of that heedless decision.

Campbell is currently in development on her feature re-imagining of the Frankenstein story and this short was the result of some of that research. It’s garnered a great deal of festival play and award nominations and wins. Campbell’s work reminds me of Hitchcock’s films combined with the original Twilight Zone series…both of which terrified and fascinated me as a child. After seeing this short, I’m so looking forward to what she does with Frankenstein.